Pollinators and nectarivores (nectar feeders) need food all year round, and there are a lot of creatures that fit this description in Australia! I don’t move my bees to follow nectar flows, but the land my bees are on is sometimes inadequate to support more than a few colonies.  If it’s hard on my bees I can only imagine how hard it is on the native bees, birds and possums that are competing for the same food sources!

I keep careful species lists of all the flowering plants in the bush blocks where I keep bees, and I have contacts with local nurseries and native plant growers.  Farming has cleared a lot of the native vegetation over the years, and even when land is left fallow it can take a long time for the native flowers to come back (if they come back at all and aren’t choked out by invasive weeds). 

It can take five to ten years for shrubs and trees to grow from tubestock to something large enough to flower and produce useful quantities of nectar, but if I wait till next year to start planting it will still take five to ten years.  The best time to plant a tree is now. 

Part of my current planting list (feel free to contact me directly to suggest something specific):

• Bursaria spinosa
• Banksia spp.
• Leptospermum spp.
• Grevillia spp.
• Melaleuca lanceolata
• Eucalyptus spp. (various) 

(Note that *you* do not get a physical product with this.  The money allows me to purchase plants which I'll use to better the local environment).